Where to find news about Booker Gliding Club

This blog has served us well for a long time and there are some fantastic stories and photos of our adventures over many years. We are still having a lot of fun, but the place to keep up with the news is now Facebook . You don't need a Facebook account to view.

You can also check out our website for information about gliding in general and Booker Gliding Club in particular.

Or you could just come along and have a chat. 

You will find us at Wycombe Air Park, Marlow, Bucks SL7 3DP. We look forward to meeting you.

Booker Gliding Club is back at Wycombe Air Park

After leading a nomadic existence for the past two years, flying at Chiltern Park in 2021 and then briefly at Abingdon, Booker Gliding Club has finally been allowed to return to its historic home at Wycombe Air Park. It has been amazing to get back in the air and see those old familiar landmarks - and to spot some changes.

The club's committee is grateful for the support of loyal members who stuck with the club during the fight to return home.

Booker Gliding Club and Wycombe Air Park, our home of decades

 Have you noticed what’s happening at Wycombe Air Park? Back in February 2021 Bucks Council fenced off the southern part of the airfield – resulting in the airfield manager banning gliding on unspecified safety grounds – and leased it to Stage Fifty, who are busy building a film studio before their planning application has been decided. This development has been on the books for a while and is enshrined in the 2019 Local Plan, which also requires that the gliding club should be moved to the north side of the airfield. The council spent a lot of time and money on plans for a glider take-off track, planning permission for which was granted in December 2021, but this is not now progressing because the airfield manager says no – so the gliding club is homeless and facing closure.

There’s a lot that’s wrong with this situation – a decades-old gliding club which has introduced thousands to low-cost flying forced off its home base, council-sponsored building going on without planning permission, a community asset trashed, and an airfield manager with his own plans for development of the airfield - he’s the CEO of HeliAir so one can only imagine what that might mean.

If you would like to comment on the planning application, ref 21/07902/FUL, you can find it on the council website (when it’s working) here: https://publicaccess.wycombe.gov.uk/idoxpa-web/

The date for website comments has passed but you can still email your comments to planning.wyc@buckinghamshire.gov.uk

Booker heads to Scotland

Booker's annual expedition to Aboyne, home to Deeside Gliding Club, has got off to a good start with three days of wave. Veterans have enjoyed seeing familiar sites, and new members Simon and David have been seen grinning from ear to ear after being introduced to the magic of wave. 

Meanwhile back at Abingdon, work is progressing on the temporary hangar.

 

The latest newsletter

 Take a look at what we have been getting up to.......the newsletter is on the website with plenty of news and pics from our temporary base at Chiltern Park. Click here to read it.

Return to flying

 As from 29th March we have been able to fly again, although only solo - two seater flying returns on 12th April. We were unable to go on our usual Spring expedition to Lleweni Parc because of the latest lockdown, but we are currently enjoying a mini expedition to Chiltern Park, near Wallingford, as guests of Dennis Pearson of Chiltern Airsports. This is because we are being prevented from flying at Wycombe Air Park because of a commercial dispute between the airfield manager (CEO of Heliair) and the airfield owner (Bucks County Council), where we are caught in the crossfire.

While we attempt to get the situation resolved, we are making the most of our time at Chiltern Park - getting current again and exploring the local area, as can be seen from the pics below.

Symeon getting in touch with the grassroots

Jim and John ready to go

K21 316 on approach

Nick and Inge's mobile teabar - a welcome sight on a cold day

Howard making the most of the day - landing at 1814

A look back at 2020....

Greetings to all our readers.

It's been a difficult year, but despite it all we have kept going, doing what we enjoy. Members have gone solo, and gone further and faster, we have run competitions, been on expeditions, and hosted events, all while doing our best to keep our members and visitors safe and secure. So now is the time to look back at all the good times, and to look forward to a better 2021. This month's issue of the newsletter is a compilation of 2020 activities with as many pics as it was possible to cram in.

Shep (Fred) Sheppard

We are saddened to announce that Shep (Fred) Sheppard took his last breath on Sunday 8th November with his family by his side. He had a good, long and adventurous life, much of it spent at Booker. Because of Covid there will be a small family congregation for his committal. At a later date, yet to be determined, the family will have a memorial service or gathering to celebrate his great life.

Christmas Eve 2007 - Shep with some model flying members - John Tournier, Mike Collett, Steve Brown, John Herman

Shep derigging after a flight in February 2008

Shep out-running a cu-nim in July 2008

Aboyne expedition round up

 Every year Booker goes on an expedition to Aboyne in Aberdeenshire, home to Deeside Gliding Club, and this year was no exception, although it was all a bit different this year, with restaurants closing early and no shared accommodation. However, we made the best of every opportunity to fly, and several members achieved firsts - first solo at Aboyne, first solo at a different airfield, first wave flight. Nils provided an excellent weather briefing every morning with some very pretty graphs from the comfort of his campervan. And when we weren't flying there was plenty of beautiful countryside to explore. We are grateul to Richard and Dave for keeping us in order, and to Dave for his time in fixing some towing damage.

Here is a selection of pics from the trip.

A view towards the east coast past the airfield

Andy Duncan after his first Aboyne solo

Loch Avon and Cairngorm

Morven

316 ready to go

Dave spent a day on repairs

Nils and William enjoying a walk from Crathie

Easter Eggs and more solos

 We have converted another power pilot to the joys of gliding - fixed wing instructor Jag Nahar did his first glider solo last week.

And then on Saturday it was time for the 17th International Easter Egg Cup Aerobatics comp. The conditions weren't the best - a freezing north-westerly making take offs on 06 quite interesting - but the field of 9 made some creditable performances - that is to say, their figures were recognisable. Their expertise ranged from 'never even done a loop before' to 'practised a bit'. British Aerobatics judge Charles Baker sat out in the cold all day gazing and the sky and tuggie James Roland kept us safe - completing his 3,000th hour of tugging in the process.

The trophy went to visitor Will Jones, with recently solo Leo Sentinella in 2nd place and Jane Moore 3rd. Many thanks to Graham Saw for sitting in as safety pilot on 8 flights, finding Easter eggs in September and organising the whole thing.

Recently solo Leo now getting good at aeros

Will Jones goes off with the trophy

Maybe next year we will hold the comp at Easter for a change.

Whispering Wardrobes, solos and more

We are now firmly established back home at Wycombe Air Park and the past few weeks have been busy as we have re-started trial lessons and courses. One of our course members, Jim Pearce, who has had a bit of practice flying things like Learjets, went solo after a few flights, converted to the Pegasus and promptly did his Bronze 2 hours. He came down buzzing with the thrill of the newly discovered delights of thermalling. 

This weekend has been hectic with vintage gliders on display and flying. Sadly we had to scale down the event because of covid considerations but there was still plenty going on. And today we had another solo - 14 year old Leo Sentinella, who joined us from Bicester almost ready to go solo, has been working really hard on the final steps and today was the day.

Leo with proud dad David

Petrel and T21 on dual tow behind the Pawnee

Graham ready to go in the Hutter

Trips to the coast, and Devon, and more

There has been some good cross country weather recently and we have been making the most of it. Howard did another 500k on Monday, with a trip to Devon - and back - and Denis took a look at the south coast. Meanwhile back at Booker, Richard took John Blake on his first cross county, they went to Bicester in a K21, narrowly avoided landing there and then soared back home. Two seater training is settling down at Booker, along with the evening groups on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Denis took a look at Havant on the south coast

John O had a trip to the races - Rockingham Raceway, currently a car park

John enjoyed a trip to Bicester

Nick and Andy's T21 adventure

We've had some excellent soaring weather recently, so one day Nick Newton and Andy Monk set off from Booker in Nick's T21 thinking that it would be fun to drop in on Chiltern Park. Which it would have been.........they got as far as Nettlebed. Nicely manicured grass field though, and the Pawnee soon rescued them.

Early optimism

Looking good at 4,000ft

Down to earth - so near and yet.........

500s in the bag

The excellent weather over the last few days has enabled plenty of epic flights from several clubs. Flying the flag for Booker, Paul Field and Howard Joseph completed their first 500k flights (Diamond Distance) on Tuesday. And Howard enjoyed it so much he had another go on Wednesday, although he didn't quite make it. Plenty of other members did noteworthy flights, including Denis Campbell who went to Devon, and John Otty, who cancelled his meetings, arrived at Chiltern Park at 3pm and nipped round a 300k. Just shows what you can do if you want to.

Paul and Howard celebrating their 500k

Denis went to Devon......

.........passing through Sussex on the way

John visited Salisbury........

......and had a view of the Isle of Wight beyond Southampton

Back at Booker, evening flying resumed on Tuesday - 6 launches followed by beers and a picnic outside the clubhouse. First to fly was 16 year old Ossian O'Sullivan who went solo last year. Evening groups are now running Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from around 1700.

As from 1st August, training flights will be at Booker 7 days a week, with cross country staying at Chiltern Park for a little while longer.

Ossian O'Sulllivan and Graham Saw about to take the first launch on Tuesday evening

Chiltern Challenge Cup final day

The last day of the comp gave us more good weather, enough for a short task to ensure everyone was back in time for the evening's entertainments. One of the turnpoints was BO3 - Booker - so there was a risk that pilots would make like homing pigeons for Booker, but they all got back. Jim White, John Otty and Denis Campbell have been jockeying for the podium all week but this time for a change Howard Joseph and Bob Smith came 2nd and 3rd behind Jim. The overall winner was Jim, with 2nd place John and 3rd place Denis.

At the end of flying we squashed all the trailers up to one end of the field to make way for parachuting which resumed on Saturday, and then Jim provided a bbq from his motorhome.

Jim the champion, with Richard

It was a very enjoyable week - the only comp in the country this year - and thanks go to Richard for sorting everything out, and to Dennis Pearson of Chiltern Airsports who let us get on with it, mixing safely with gyrocopters and microlights and whatever else turned up. Also to Nils who did weather forecasts every day, and the tug pilots - James Roland, Rob Turner and Doug Hilton - for efficient launching, and not forgetting Pete Wyld who did the scoring from the peace and quiet of his own home.

Scorer's view

In other news.........James Giles, who has yet to complete his Bronze, made the effort to drive that bit further to Chiltern Park, flew the Duo a couple of times to get used to the site, had a lesson in how to rig a Pegase and then had three long soaring flights - type conversion and a new site! And he did a lot of running around helping to launch the grid.

The grin says it all!

The Booker Chiltern Park Cup

In a normal world, this week we would be running the Booker Red Kite Regionals at Wycombe Air Park, but with life as it is, we are running the Chiltern Challenge Cup at Chiltern Park, a 7 day comp with Distance Handicapped Tasks and regionals rules, although it is not a rated comp.

On Saturday 11th July we got off to a good start with a task of 198km, a couple of airfield landouts with aerotow retrieves and the first three places going to Jim White, Denis Campbell and John Otty.

Sunday was an amazing day with 6,000ft cloudbase in parts and light winds and the task was 322km, as always routed past airstrips to allow for safe landouts if necessary. The podium places shuffled a bit: Jim White, John Otty and Denis Campbell. Special mention for David Hamilton, flying his first comp, who managed 221km, having sensibly decided to skip the last turnpoint at Marlborough.

Nice looking sky

Monday and Tuesday were scrubs. Wednesday looked unpromising until mid afternoon when the grid launched on a task of 102km. It was a valiant effort - Denis did 52km before turning on his engine, Nils and Jim landed at Abingdon, and John helpfully flew over them before firing up his engine. Everyone else landed back. The result was Denis, Jim and John, but sadly no points because no-one passed the magic Y. There really should be marks for effort! Plenty of people enjoyed the day on tracking from the comfort of their own home though.

Nils and Jim dropped in at Abingdon

On Thursday the task was 152km around Lasham, Membury and Oxford. The sky looked good from the ground but it was plainly not so good on track. The winner was John, followed by Jim and then Denis. A handful of pilots had extra adventures - Ashley landed at a short strip near Kingsclere and was retrieved by road, Martin (a guest from Halton) landed at Membury and got a tow back from the Jones brothers, Nils landed at Bourne Park and was brought home by John in GH, and David picked a mammoth stubble field and was fetched by Richard in the Pawnee (any excuse).

Getting ready to launch the grid

Nils at Bourne Park - sadly soon to close and be built on

David in his mammoth field

The detailed results are here: https://www.soaringspot.com/en_gb/booker2020/results

Meanwhile at Booker - we resumed flying at WAP last Friday with 9 training flights, and another 9 on Saturday. The new method of operation worked very well with great joint working with power traffic.